App Growth Talks: Mariusz Gąsiewski

This is an episode of App Growth Talks, series of interviews with experts on mobile marketing and growth. This episode’s special guest is Mariusz Gąsiewski, CEE Mobile Gaming Lead at Google. Mariusz is an expert on mobile gaming, growth strategies for mobile gaming businesses, efficient and scalable acquisition. What is more, Mariusz is also a founder of GameCamp, one of the biggest mobile app & game communities in Europe.

From this interview, you will learn everything about mobile gaming, key metrics, trends and the state of the market. Below, you will find some insights Mariusz shared during the App Growth Talk, while other insightful hints, actionable ideas and engaging tips you will find by listening the full version of the interview.

Q: Mariusz, you have an impressive background and a lot of experience working with mobile apps & games. How, in your opinion, has the mobile gaming industry changed over the last few years?

01:20

• Free-to-play model is very popular and has grown a lot
• Premium model is a niche that works for specific segments
• There is more and more focus around growth – both paid and organic

Also learn which emerging markets are playing more and more important role.

Q: How has the coronavirus pandemic affected the market? What game genres are on the rise today?

04:04

• Consequences of the pandemic had a very strong impact on mobile gaming – both on the usage and monetization.
• During lockdowns and limitations, people still needed a source of entertainment. And this trend continued even after lockdowns finished.
• Games that are experiencing growth can be divided into 3 buckets.

Bucket 1. Those genres that on the one hand are big already but on the other hand still growing significantly in terms of usage, monetization and revenue. They are:
– casual games
– adventure games
– simulators

Listen to the podcast to learn about the two other buckets.

Q: Retention is the key performance metric for mobile games. Is it true today? While the competition is getting tougher, how to retain users in 2021?

08:32

There are a few sides of the question. Development of good games is about how to create the value for the user.
If you want to sell something, you need to make sure someone will use it and create the value.

And retention is showing how many people are not just using something once but actually coming back to a game. So this is a good metric and a sign that you created value for users since they are coming back.

Also find out a few more aspects Mariusz highlighted in regard to retention.

Q: What are other important KPIs to pay attention to?

12:27

• Engagement metrics (how long the gaming session is, how often players coming to the game, etc.)
• Monetization metrics

Q: How do you recommend to measure LTV? When you launch a new game, what are some early signs of a good LTV?

15:15

• Depends on the type of the game
• Some early signs are retention (more opportunities to engage the user) and monetization in the beginning (good sign since users pay for something they consider useful – so this means your game adds value)
  Forcing users to pay might be profitable in the short term but very negative in the middle and long term.
  

Q: Now let’s move on to monetization – how to choose the right strategy when you’re building a mobile game?

20:46

• You need to think about the monetization model at the early stage of the game. Because it largely depends on the specific type of the game.
• Those games that are hyper casual and have very broad audiences, have a substantial percentage of the revenue from ads.
• Those games that have more hardcore audience (RPG, strategy, professional simulation), are usually more focused on the in-app revenue.

Q: Do you agree that the future lies in the subscription model?

25:53

Find out the opinion of Mariusz in the podcast. 

Q: As for creatives, have you ever noticed some patterns that work for specific genres? 

30:13

• Various types of creatives work for different channels, platforms and networks.

35:43 
It’s not really about genre but the reason why a specific user plays a specific type of the game.

• Some games people are playing to be more competitive, to feel this adrenaline – other types of the games users are playing to forget things around.
• Why some players are feeling guilty for their playing.

Find out what you can do with your game’s creatives to show that it provides real value.

Q: Could you please tell our listeners more about your project – GameCamp? How did you come up with the idea, what purposes it serves?

38:28

• Business aspects of mobile games
• Knowledge sharing and networking
• Companies are sharing how they achieved their success and how they are growing
  

Q: Maybe you could share some insights on what’s next with Google Play, how it’s going to transform in the near future? And also, overall growth strategies and trends are you excited about for 2021

41:23

Listen to the podcast to find out great news for publishers on Google Play!